


Nastily Exhausted

by CaptainErica



Series: Studying Defeats You Eventually [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Attraction, F/M, N.E.W.Ts, no more studying!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 18:16:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18211862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainErica/pseuds/CaptainErica
Summary: Hermione is through with studying, and it's not that she's not still in love with research, it's that at this point... is there anything more she can really do? Oh, and Draco's rather cute, isn't he?





	Nastily Exhausted

It was the end of May, classes were over, and if her life was normal, Hermione would be living in the Library by now.

Well, _normal_ would be a relative term. Really, if she hadn’t spent a year on the run and hunting _horcruxes,_ then she would probably not be so lacking in the motivation needed to spend hours in the library re-reading every book on everything. That, and she already had 3 job offers on hold, and Harry had finally passed the main auror examination the other day and honestly she deserves to take some time to herself to celebrate for him. Ron had decided not to sit the exam, which had surprised everyone except her and Ginny.

“He’s still figuring himself out.” Ginny was saying to Neville on the other side of the table. “It’s hard to just, jump right back in to fighting, you know? And Ron…”

“He’s a family-oriented person above all.” Hermione finishes for her, thoughtful. Ginny nods, earnest, and Neville can’t _not_ agree. “Harry said something about him deciding to force George to open more of the shop up?” She adds, pressing for Ginny to talk some more. It was good to hear about it, good for everyone, really.

Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes _should_ be fully operational again. George _needed_ to be a part of it, to really make it work, and hopefully Ron could help push him toward it. Hermione knew this with her whole heart, even if she did not agree with all of the products.

She can feel eyes on her from across the hall, but it’s not surprising: she had noticed Draco Malfoy watching her more and more often of late. They’d been talking more, and she was surprised to find that she didn’t find him near as hateful as she had expected to. He had not been a _good_ person, no, but she could see that maybe he had not had a choice; she hopes that someday she is able to have a conversation about his choices with him, because she thinks…

“Hermione, do you think your friend will ever stop staring?” Padma asks, a touch displeased, and Ginny snorts.

“Nah, he’s only just realized he’s allowed to think she’s gorgeous, he’s trying to make up for lost time.” She says with a wickedly teasing glint in her eyes as she looks at Hermione. Hermione turns a little red at that, can’t believe Draco might find her attractive.

“Oh hush the both of you. He’s not been so bad, and I think… I think there are a lot of things that we all still need to learn.” She says, pushing her embarrassment away (he couldn’t think of her like that, she was someone he could talk to about charms).

Ginny tilts her head a little, thoughtful, but Neville beats her to it. “He was a child bully.” He says, and Hermione focuses on him, remembers the way Malfoy and company had picked on him, especially in their younger years. “But he was a product of a system that we’ve been fighting against, isn’t he? He tried to do better, and he _is_ doing better…” Neville trails off, “I think we can’t forget what he did, but we also can’t forget why.”

They’re all silent a moment, the people around them sounding louder to Hermione in those seconds and minutes after Neville goes quiet.

“I think it’s important,” Hermione says, quiet and careful, “That we remember that people can change, and I think that he is learning from his mistakes every day, and… and I think he’s seeing the ignorance in what he had been told just as often.”

Hermione goes to the Library after lunch. She has no true want to be there aside from the comfort of it.

“You’re fair prepared for the tests, yeah? So go relax or something, you’re making me anxious.” A drawling voice says from the end of the aisle of books Hermione had been standing in.

Her lips twitch up, and she rolls her eyes. “Honestly, Malfoy, if I’m that bad you can move to another aisle, there are plenty of books for everyone.” She says, a little haughty. Her response makes Draco grin and lean against the nearest shelf gently.

“You’re clearly hoarding the books I want for my studies, how could I go elsewhere?” He asks, “It’s a blatant attempt to make me do poorly, I should go to the Headmistress, I should.” He says, and it’s haughty and rude and it makes her laugh despite herself.

“Please do.” She says, stepping back, amusement showing across her face. “Meanwhile, I will take my books on species law back to my table where you can’t use them to study for… your law N.E.W.T?” She says, head tilting, softly teasing him. “I was unaware that was a class I could take.” She adds, and Draco rolls his eyes.

Their camaraderie of late is strange, surprising, and… Harry said Ron thought that Draco was just trying to get in her good graces, into _their_ good graces, in the hopes that they could help him after he left school. Hermione told Harry she would be disappointed in Draco if he _wasn’t_ hoping for that. ‘it would be ridiculous of him not to consider it a viable option, honestly. I wouldn’t be upset about it, he’s not a menace, he was a scared boy, and now he’s an uncertain adult; every step he takes is on uneven ground and he has to relearn how to balance himself out.’

The first day of N.E.W.Ts is exhausting, as the name of the tests implied. She’s completely wiped clean, though she does try to go over her answers with anyone who will listen.

The only person who will listen is Draco Malfoy.

“Sounds like what I said, so if it’s wrong, at least I can die knowing you were wrong as well.” He says, and she actually laughs at that, which takes Ginny and Neville by surprise.

“Ah, I suppose you’re right.” She says, and though she still feels in her heart that these tests are her future, she also feels a small amount of the weight of them lifted at that stupid little joke.

Each day after that gets better, her shoulders feeling less weight, and partly it is because Draco is there, patiently listening to her…

Well, not patiently. He gets just as heated as her over the potential answers. Their tempers can be heard flaring up down by the lake as they go through each answer before the practicals, and after as Draco gets frustrated about a spell he should know and Hermione gets annoyed that her flowers never come out with the exact striations she wants or something else equally trivial.

When they’re done, at the end of the second week, completely and totally done, those who took their N.E.W.Ts could be found down along the lake. It’s a comfortable level of chaos that Hermione quite enjoys. It’s like the Gryffindor common room on a busy evening, it’s like being a teenager for real. Draco is sat close to Hermione’s group, and Ginny is angrily telling him that she can’t believe Blaise ruined her shot at winning a bet by announcing he and Pansy hadn’t been together for months now.

“It’s unfair, the least he could have done was _waited_ so I could win by default when we all left.” She’s saying, and Hermione rolls her eyes, lips tilted up in amusement.

“You’re assuming that both he knew of the bet and did _not_ know of it.” Draco says, pinched face looking just a touch more so now. “I can tell you, though, that had he known of this bet, he would absolutely not have allowed you to win.” He says with finality, and that just spurns Ginny on to go and look for Blaise and ask him directly.

“Did he know?” Hermione asks, idly curious as she leans back on her hands.

Draco shrugs, “I haven’t any idea, but inconveniencing Blaise is a daily goal of mine.” He says, face softer now, more relaxed.

Hermione realizes then that she finds him attractive. It’s a sudden realization, like the toppling of a tall stack of books; a crashing thud of finality as they all hit the ground. He was striking, the sun glinting through his pale blond hair, accentuating his sharp cheekbones and making his light blue eyes appear an interesting grey. He was attractive in that way that every so often your breath catches because it’s surprising and uncertain and a little ethereal. He was attractive in such a way that made Hermione feel the opposite; too big, indelicate, clunky and loud and bright… But also in a way that made her feel comfortable, like she complimented him somehow.

It was awkward to think like that, though, as if they were meant to be, two sides to a coin. She tunes back in to her surroundings and Draco is talking about how Blaise deserved every small inconvenience he ever has or will face, and Hermione wonders softly what she will do with her newfound realization.

Nothing, for now.


End file.
